Cut Off Your You-Know-What

Matthew 19:10-12

The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

The rampant individualism of the last few hundred years in the West has left families, and children, in bad shape, as people act on the belief that they have, as individuals, a “right to happiness” which overrides all considerations of loyalty, keeping vows, and the duty to bring up lovingly the children one has brought into the world.

Nobody—certainly not Jesus—ever said that following him and finding God’s kingdom-way in these matters would be easy. But nobody should imagine that it’s just an optional extra. As Jesus comes closer to Jerusalem, and to his own astonishing act of self-denial and self-sacrifice, we should take note that the call to follow him extends to the most personal and intimate details of our lives (47).

A. Orendorff

In light of what Jesus has said just a few verses earlier about chopping off your hands and gouging out your eyes, it is tempting to paraphrase Matthew 19:20, “If getting married causes you to sin, cut off your you-know-what.” Jesus’ point, of course, is that we must allow nothing to trump our kingdom loyalty. He is not denigrating marriage; if anything he is elevating it. The fidelity demanded by marriage is the closest thing to kingdom-fidelity this world has to offer. This means, however, that just as we must be willing to lose our hands and eyes if they become sources for sin, so too Jesus’ radical demand to “take up your cross” extends to the intimate space create by marriage itself.